CA Finish on Wenge?

[Nickfff]

Hello,
My ca finish is pretty consistent. I ran across a challenge today with wenge. It is ghosting and the ca is not being accepted on part of the barrel (even though I applied it multiple times it does not appear to be applying).

Is this a common issue with wenge?

How have others gotten a nice ca finish on wenge?

How have others avoided the ca white sanding marks/streaks with wenge?

Thanks in advance for replies,
Nick

 

[HawksFeather]

Hi Nick,

Personally I have not turned any wenge pens so I don't feel real comfortable giving advice. I have turned wenge for calls, but not with a CA finish.

You might want to use the search feature - just type in wenge and hit the "go" button. It will give you many listings, but if you look at the right column it will tell you what forum it is mentioned in. Click on the ones from finish and you will have some pretty good advice from posts on finishing - not necessarily "just" wenge, but posts that refer to wenge and other oily woods.

Jerry

 

[maxwell_smart007]

Wenge gives me fits when trying to finish - even more so than cocobolo, so I can't give you any advice on the matter except "you're not alone"

 

[Greg O'Sherwood]

I couldn't get a CA finish on wenge to hold unless I started with an alcohol rub to draw out the excess moisture from the outer layers and then I laid on about 12 VERY light coats of thin CA. Followed with a couple medium CA coats and sanded it down, but it still wasn't as good as I'd like it.

Now, I sand all the way down to 12,000 MM and Beall buff it. It comes out very nice. Maybe not as durable as a CA finish, but still VERY nice.

 

[LEAP]

I've done a number of Wenge pens. Love the grain. I turn the pen down to about a sixteenth oversize then soak the pens a couple of times with thin CA. After this has dried I continue the final turning and sanding. This helps fill any voids and makes it a bit easier for the final finish.